Six out of 10 own them and they use them — a lot — creating big ad market

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You’ve seen them on the subway, in the park and in the grocery story. Moms on their smartphones. New research finds that smartphone ownership among moms is higher than in the general population.

Nearly six in 10 moms have a smartphone and 62 percent of moms told researchers they use the mobile Internet regularly, up from 22 percent just two years ago, according to research by parenting website BabyCenter. The research was reported in eMarketer Digital Intelligence.

Moms use their smartphones for somewhat different purposes than the general population, the survey found. For example, moms are significantly more likely to access games, social media and health information, and somewhat more likely to check the weather, listen to music or shop via mobile. They are less likely to use their phones to access content such as maps, productivity tools, and financial and business information, suggesting they’re sticking to activities to help — or help occupy — their families, according to the research.

Activities like these lead smartphone-owning moms to spend an average of 6.1 hours a day with their phone, compared with 2.5 hours among moms with only a feature phone. And with so much time spent on advanced mobile-content activities, mom smartphone users are bound to view advertising.

BabyCenter reported that 55 percent of smartphone-owning moms considered ads with coupons or ads that feature nearby deals (34 percent) most appealing, and they were significantly more likely than the general population to do so.

Just over half of mothers who had smartphones said they had followed up on a mobile ad they saw by doing more research later (52 percent) or talked about the ad with someone else (51 percent). Other actions, like clicking on the ad (31 percent) or purchasing the product later online (14 percent), were still in the minority, but moms’ higher likelihood of indirect action suggests even mobile ads not clicked on are resonating with them to some extent.